Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense Sentenced To Life

[Truthseeker420]

McNeil arrived home after his teenage son had called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property.
Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 9-1-1, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp’s pants pocket. McNeil’s neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.
Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn’t charge him.
McNeil’s self-defense claim is supported by Georgia’s “castle doctrine law,” which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.
McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Head decided to pursue prosecution.

NAACP Urges Freedom For Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

This article is old and you ought to do your research first before being the emotional reactionary tool that you are. Mr. McNeil was released from prison a few months ago after agreeing to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.

Kennesaw man released from prison after 2006 murder conviction - CBS Atlanta 46

That said, his arrest and subsequent plea in order to be freed are a travesty of justice and if I were him I'd look into filing a lawsuit against the Cob County District Attorney for prosecutorial misconduct.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

This is cut and dried law. There is no exceptions. The guy was on his property - he felt he and his family were in danger. It was clearly within his rights to use deadly force. That is the law in Georgia. It says it right there in the article. Add to that the castle Law and I think this guy has a huge lawsuit for discrimination once this gets reversed. - Jeri

 

[Truthseeker420]

This article is old and you ought to do your research first before being the emotional reactionary tool that you are. Mr. McNeil was released from prison a few months ago after agreeing to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.

Kennesaw man released from prison after 2006 murder conviction - CBS Atlanta 46

That said, his arrest and subsequent plea in order to be freed are a travesty of justice and if I were him I'd look into filing a lawsuit against the Cob County District Attorney for prosecutorial misconduct.

They point is he was charged and convicted to life for shooting someone on his property who had a weapon, who had threatened him with violence in the past, and attacked him. And he had witnesses to the attack.

 

[Truthseeker420]

This is cut and dried law. There is no exceptions. The guy was on his property - he felt he and his family were in danger. It was clearly within his rights to use deadly force. That is the law in Georgia. It says it right there in the article. Add to that the castle Law and I think this guy has a huge lawsuit for discrimination once this gets reversed. - Jeri

You don't think he should have locked himself in the house and waited for the police to arrive?

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

The neighbors say in the report the guy had already threatened his kid with a knife and was lunging towards him on his own property. Did he have time to lock both he and his son inside the house or would you prefer he left his son behind? I mean was that even an option?

 

[squeeze berry]

McNeil arrived home after his teenage son had called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property.
Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 9-1-1, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp’s pants pocket. McNeil’s neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.
Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn’t charge him.
McNeil’s self-defense claim is supported by Georgia’s “castle doctrine law,” which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.
McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Head decided to pursue prosecution.

NAACP Urges Freedom For Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense

why isn't the NAACP urging freedom for GZ?

 

[BillyV]

McNeil arrived home after his teenage son had called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property.
Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 9-1-1, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp’s pants pocket. McNeil’s neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.
Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn’t charge him.
McNeil’s self-defense claim is supported by Georgia’s “castle doctrine law,” which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.
McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Head decided to pursue prosecution.

NAACP Urges Freedom For Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense

Yes, well, let's see how that jives with the real story:

Brian Epp was not an "unfamiliar" man; according to the Atlanta Journal, "There had been tension for weeks between McNeil and Epp, the builder on McNeil’s nearly-finished but overdue $439,000 house on Earlivine Way in Kennesaw.

Trial witnesses portrayed a hostile relationship that became worse each day until the afternoon of Dec. 6, 2005, when McNeil’s son called to say a man had pulled a knife on him in their backyard."

Your source doesn't discuss the 911 call in any detail, yet it was critical to the prosecution of the case. Again from the Atlanta Journal:

"“I’m about to pull up now. Just get the cops out here,” John McNeil said on the 911 recording. “I’m ready to whip his ass right now.” The operator urged him to stay in the car as an officer was only minutes away, but he refused.....

The morning of the shooting, the McNeils discovered Epp had removed the heating and air conditioning vents from their house and installed them in the one he was building next door for his mother."

Perhaps McNeil came into this situation with an axe to grind?

But how about the pocketknife found in Epp's pant's pocket (yet never drawn)? The only knife found was a contractors knife clipped to the inside of his pocket. He was a contractor, after all; of course he would have tools on his person. Yet McNeil never saw the knife; it was found after the contractor and father of three young children was shot in the head from a distance of three feet.

Here is what some of the jurors had to say:

"Another juror in the nine-day trial, Michael McClellan, said “The jury was very diligent. I don’t think there was an injustice done in terms of the jury’s verdict.”
Juror Janis Parsons agreed with the verdict but now believes McNeil should get another chance because in her opinion the life sentence without the possibility of parole for 30 years is too long.
“I’m not saying he wasn’t trying to protect his kid but just listening to it on the 911 recording… our hands were tied,” Parsons said. “I didn’t want to say he was guilty…. But I couldn’t say he was innocent.”

There is no evidence that race played a role in this at all, and there certainly is a reasonable argument to be made that he shot this contractor in a fit of anger, not out of fear for his life as claimed. By the time he arrived there, his son had locked himself in the house. He should have simply waited for the police to arrive and remove Epp from the property.

Was it self-defense or murder? | www.ajc.com

 

[Noomi]

This article is old and you ought to do your research first before being the emotional reactionary tool that you are. Mr. McNeil was released from prison a few months ago after agreeing to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.

Kennesaw man released from prison after 2006 murder conviction - CBS Atlanta 46

That said, his arrest and subsequent plea in order to be freed are a travesty of justice and if I were him I'd look into filing a lawsuit against the Cob County District Attorney for prosecutorial misconduct.

He shouldn't have been jailed at all. If he was white, and had shot a black man, he wouldn't have been charged at all.

 

[Gracie]

McNeil arrived home after his teenage son had called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property.
Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 9-1-1, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp’s pants pocket. McNeil’s neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.
Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn’t charge him.
McNeil’s self-defense claim is supported by Georgia’s “castle doctrine law,” which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.
McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Head decided to pursue prosecution.

NAACP Urges Freedom For Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense

why isn't the NAACP urging freedom for GZ?

Because it's the NAACP. That's why.

 

[S.J.]

This article is old and you ought to do your research first before being the emotional reactionary tool that you are. Mr. McNeil was released from prison a few months ago after agreeing to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.

Kennesaw man released from prison after 2006 murder conviction - CBS Atlanta 46

That said, his arrest and subsequent plea in order to be freed are a travesty of justice and if I were him I'd look into filing a lawsuit against the Cob County District Attorney for prosecutorial misconduct.

He shouldn't have been jailed at all. If he was white, and had shot a black man, he wouldn't have been charged at all.

Hmm, interesting you have the opposite opinion in the Zimmerman case.

 

[Noomi]

This article is old and you ought to do your research first before being the emotional reactionary tool that you are. Mr. McNeil was released from prison a few months ago after agreeing to a plea of voluntary manslaughter.

Kennesaw man released from prison after 2006 murder conviction - CBS Atlanta 46

That said, his arrest and subsequent plea in order to be freed are a travesty of justice and if I were him I'd look into filing a lawsuit against the Cob County District Attorney for prosecutorial misconduct.

He shouldn't have been jailed at all. If he was white, and had shot a black man, he wouldn't have been charged at all.

Hmm, interesting you have the opposite opinion in the Zimmerman case.

Because the cases are nothing alike. Zimmerman caused the death of Trayvon by following him. This man did nothing, the bloke entered his home without permission.

 

[BillyV]

He shouldn't have been jailed at all. If he was white, and had shot a black man, he wouldn't have been charged at all.

Hmm, interesting you have the opposite opinion in the Zimmerman case.

Because the cases are nothing alike. Zimmerman caused the death of Trayvon by following him. This man did nothing, the bloke entered his home without permission.

No, he wasn't in his home or even on his property when he arrived. From the link I referenced above:

"Epp was leaning against his truck in the driveway of the house next door when John McNeil pulled up."

He was told to stay in his car until police arrived; his son was safely locked inside the family home, and the contractor was next door in the driveway of the house he was building for his mother. On what basis does McNeil have the right to ignore the instructions of the 911 operator when the danger had passed, but Zimmerman does not? I think the situations were very similar with the exception that McNeil had good reason to be raging mad against the contractor with whom he had had so much difficulty over his new home which then goes to motive, which is not as easily shown in the Zimmerman case.

 

[S.J.]

He shouldn't have been jailed at all. If he was white, and had shot a black man, he wouldn't have been charged at all.

Hmm, interesting you have the opposite opinion in the Zimmerman case.

Because the cases are nothing alike. Zimmerman caused the death of Trayvon by following him. This man did nothing, the bloke entered his home without permission.

So, you can shoot somebody because they're in your home, but you can't shoot somebody if they attack you? I think we can see where you're coming from here (if you're white, you're guilty).

 

[ScienceRocks]

If it is self defense=free him.

Same could be said for Zimmerman.

 

[ScienceRocks]

Hmm, interesting you have the opposite opinion in the Zimmerman case.

Because the cases are nothing alike. Zimmerman caused the death of Trayvon by following him. This man did nothing, the bloke entered his home without permission.

So, you can shoot somebody because they're in your home, but you can't shoot somebody if they attack you? I think we can see where you're coming from here (if you're white, you're guilty).

I think there's stand your ground laws and castle laws. Depends on what state.

 

[Truthseeker420]

McNeil arrived home after his teenage son had called him about an unfamiliar man lurking about their property.
Brian Epp, a hired contractor with whom McNeil had past difficulties, had already pulled a knife on the teenager.
Epp refused to leave, and McNeil, who had called 9-1-1, fired a warning shot into the ground. Epp then charged toward McNeil while reaching into his pocket. McNeil fatally shot him in the head at close range. Court documents state that a pocketknife was clipped inside Epp’s pants pocket. McNeil’s neighbors who witnessed the incident backed his story.
Kennesaw police detectives investigated the case, decided that McNeil had acted in self-defense and didn’t charge him.
McNeil’s self-defense claim is supported by Georgia’s “castle doctrine law,” which allows an individual to use deadly force to protect his or her home, or anyone inside it, from a violent trespasser.
McNeil and his family thought the worst was over, until Head decided to pursue prosecution.

NAACP Urges Freedom For Black Man Who Killed White Man In Self-Defense

Yes, well, let's see how that jives with the real story:

Brian Epp was not an "unfamiliar" man; according to the Atlanta Journal, "There had been tension for weeks between McNeil and Epp, the builder on McNeil’s nearly-finished but overdue $439,000 house on Earlivine Way in Kennesaw.

Trial witnesses portrayed a hostile relationship that became worse each day until the afternoon of Dec. 6, 2005, when McNeil’s son called to say a man had pulled a knife on him in their backyard."

Your source doesn't discuss the 911 call in any detail, yet it was critical to the prosecution of the case. Again from the Atlanta Journal:

"“I’m about to pull up now. Just get the cops out here,” John McNeil said on the 911 recording. “I’m ready to whip his ass right now.” The operator urged him to stay in the car as an officer was only minutes away, but he refused.....

The morning of the shooting, the McNeils discovered Epp had removed the heating and air conditioning vents from their house and installed them in the one he was building next door for his mother."

Perhaps McNeil came into this situation with an axe to grind?

But how about the pocketknife found in Epp's pant's pocket (yet never drawn)? The only knife found was a contractors knife clipped to the inside of his pocket. He was a contractor, after all; of course he would have tools on his person. Yet McNeil never saw the knife; it was found after the contractor and father of three young children was shot in the head from a distance of three feet.

Here is what some of the jurors had to say:

"Another juror in the nine-day trial, Michael McClellan, said “The jury was very diligent. I don’t think there was an injustice done in terms of the jury’s verdict.”
Juror Janis Parsons agreed with the verdict but now believes McNeil should get another chance because in her opinion the life sentence without the possibility of parole for 30 years is too long.
“I’m not saying he wasn’t trying to protect his kid but just listening to it on the 911 recording… our hands were tied,” Parsons said. “I didn’t want to say he was guilty…. But I couldn’t say he was innocent.”

There is no evidence that race played a role in this at all, and there certainly is a reasonable argument to be made that he shot this contractor in a fit of anger, not out of fear for his life as claimed. By the time he arrived there, his son had locked himself in the house. He should have simply waited for the police to arrive and remove Epp from the property.

Was it self-defense or murder? | www.ajc.com

Even though McNeil was on his property and attacked by Epp his life was not in danger and should spend time in jail, which he did.